Mortgage Interest Rates Near All Time Low Says Freddie Mac
Posted on | September 17, 2009 | No Comments
Mortgage interest rates are near an all time low says Freddie Mac as they released their weekly mortgage survey today. For the third straight week mortgage rates have dropped and we are at the lowest levels since the Spring of 2009. The average for 30 year fixed mortgage rates was 5.04% which was down from 5.07% last week. Earlier today on Subprime Blogger we reported mortgage rates at 4.97%. The slight difference is due to the fact that Freddie Mac takes the average of the previous week.
The record lows that we reached in the Spring of this year were 4.78%. While we are still quite a bit higher than that now, mortgage rates being around 5% are very attractive to home owners who have been thinking about refinancing. One of the main reasons that we are seeing such low mortgage rates is because the Federal Reserve Bank is buying $1.25 trillion in mortgage backed securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The troubling part of this is that the money that is being used to purchase mortgage backed securities runs out by year end.
The average 15 year mortgage rate hit its lowest levels since 1991. The 15 year rate came in at 4.47% which was a drop from the 4.5% of last week. Even though mortgage interest rates remain historically low it is still difficult for borrowers to qualify for these low rates. Mortgage lenders have greatly tightened their lending practices so it takes extraordinary credit and at least a 20 percent down payment.
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Author: Jesse Wojdylo
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